EPS Theatre brings an American award-winning vibrant solo show to Gilded Balloon in the form of Driving In Circles, written and performed by Jay Eddy and directed by Sam Plattus.
If you are joining Jay Eddy on this road trip/journey, you may want to buckle up and prepare – prepare for an exciting variation of spoken vocal performance and emotions. But that’s not all, as Jay Eddy is also a musician with a screen and a funky synthesiser.
It is clear from early on that there are boundaries here – the aim is not to shock but rather to express. They will share that outpouring and road to healing, but for what’s actually caused the trauma, it is ‘none of our business’! Now that we are all cool with that, we can sit, watch, listen and process the show.
We have seen them as a child on the screen, craving independence, and now it is explained to us that they have PTSD because of trauma in childhood. Jay Eddy faces this alone.
Jay Eddy has a voice both sweet and raw, like an amplifier of experiences, of tension and release, because the hurt runs deep. They are becoming the master of their own destination though, and place emphasis on acknowledging the anxiety and questioning initial ideas such as ‘tantrums’.
A crucial object is the car – a sedan – and it is compared to having a pet. We get a sense of freedom in relation to this car, but it can go horribly wrong too, and does, but Jay Eddy is holding up.
The general outlook is one toward happiness, and Sam, who had been a friend for many years, becomes something more significant – they date, and now, actually, they are ‘in love’. It feels like an infectious bliss when they talk of shared snippets of time, ‘hot chicken’, and a strong connective force possibly helping to keep them grounded.
Sam and Jay Eddy are the future; they have a future. But they know how to sit directly with one another with ‘snot and leakage’ and feel love and quite possibly ‘acceptance’.
There is a lot to take on board from this play, but there is quite possibly something for everyone: the discourse, the humour, medical references, rocking-out tunes – but ultimately ‘love’ and making things better give this show heart and soul.
The world may be ending, but it is clear that a key element in wellness is ‘safety’, and we can hear this echoed – Jay Eddy can tap into this and eventually say the words they desire to say – that they love. EPS Theatre has delivered something which evolves beautifully before us. Driving In Circles is a trip worth taking.
